Estate workers gather outside Parliament, demand housing law
Some 150 estate workers protested peacefully outside the Parliament building today to demand Putrajaya to enact an estate housing law which would ensure their housing long after their contracts have been terminated.
The group, which comprised of current and former estate workers from across the country, called on the Pakatan Harapan government to ensure permanent housing for the workers by making it mandatory for estate managers to build houses for them...
Some 150 estate workers protested peacefully outside the Parliament building today to demand Putrajaya to enact an estate housing law which would ensure their housing long after their contracts have been terminated.
The group, which comprised of current and former estate workers from across the country, called on the Pakatan Harapan government to ensure permanent housing for the workers by making it mandatory for estate managers to build houses for them.
The group was representing the Estate Society Support Committee (JMSL), which is under PSM.
“At one time, the whole country depended on plantation workers, but today, more estates are closing down...The housing problem for plantation workers has not been resolved as there is no law to ensure workers retain housing when the plantation (closes) for development.
“In 1973, Tun Razak (Malaysia's second prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein), had a policy called ‘Workers Own Housing Scheme’.
“However, until today, less than five percent of plantations actually build houses for estate workers as this was not a law but just a policy,” PSM deputy chairperson S Arutchelvan, who accompanied the group today, told reporters.
According to Arutchelvan, many workers are allegedly abandoned by estate owners once their contracts have expired or the project is completed, and are forced out.
Some, he added, even had electricity and water supply cut by unscrupulous landowners in a bid to get them to move out.
He also claimed previous promises by former opposition politicians, including then-Selangor exco Dr Xavier Jayakumar in 2008, have not been fulfilled.
In repeating PSM’s call for such a legislature, Arul (above) said without such a measure, most workers, who earn low wages, would not be able to own houses and are left stranded.
Relating his experience, one estate worker spoken to by Malaysiakini claimed repeated attempts to get help from his state government proved futile.
The worker, who identified himself only as Muheshvarman from Padang Meha, Kedah, said he and fellow workers were promised up to 240 low-cost homes by the plantation owner in 1997.
However, this did not materialise despite a lengthy court process, he claimed.
“(Five months ago), the estate cut the water supply. Till now, we have no water at the estate, only water supply from the tank.
“We’ve been to the menteri besar’s office five times but no one from the (state) government has helped us,” he claims.
The protesters today also submitted a memorandum - specifically to the Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin and Human Resources Minister M Kulasegaran.
The memorandum was received by officers representing the three ministers.
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